Model copolymers of ethylene with butene‐1 made by hydrogenation of polybutadiene: Chemical composition and selected physical properties

Hydrogenation of polybutadienes with from 8 to nearly 100% vinyl content was used to prepare a series of model copolymers of ethylene and butene‐1 with uniform microstructures and narrow molecular weight distributions. They range from readily crystallizable to completely amorphous, depending on the frequency of ethyl side branches (2–50 per 100 skeletal carbons). Melting temperature, secondary transition temperature, density, plateau modulus for the melt, and elastic modulus for the solid were obtained as functions of branch content. The effect of crystallinity on the secondary transition and modulus of the solid is discussed.